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Yes.. yes.. join the dark side.

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Great read. :thumbsup:

Adulphozael slowly and steadily made his way through the ranks of a great gathering of lesser demons, waiting for the call of their master. Adulphozael had reason to believe this master of theirs had been the one who banished his soul into the abyss, 831 years ago.

The demon had made camp for himself within a tent bearing a large, dark symbol Adulphozael could not identify. He took a peak inside and carefully stepped inside, there stood the leader, overlooking the scrolls he had laid out on the stone table.

"You..."
"What!? Who's there? Show yourself!"
"I am Adulphozael, maybe you've heard of me." He said in a dark and brooding tone of voice.
"Adulphozael?! I.. I have never heard such a name in all my life!"
"Lies! How dare you lie to the face of your demise!"

A seemingly massive suit of armor appeared in front of the demon, bearing a short sword pointing directly at the unprotected throat of the demon commander. The demon could do nothing but gaze in silent fear into the burning red eyes of the assassin.

"No... no... not you. I am but a simple captain, but I know what you seek." Adulphozael said nothing. The captain cleared his throat. "However, I do not know the location of the one you seek, nobody does. Not anymore. Therefore, you should have no need to harm me in an-"
Before the wretched demon could say more, his gullet was instantly slit open, and his killer vanished. The demon fell forward, gargling, into a pool of his own blood.

Several minutes later, while returning to his solitary lair, Adulphozael began to feel a sensation, similar to one he feels when he disappears. "What is this?!" He said in great confusion. He appeared in a massive hall, standing on a curious circle lined with strange runes and various symbols. It occurred to him he had been summoned, for unknown reasons. The great demon Namphiel stood before him, looking down on him.

"What is thy bidding, my lord, Namphiel..."

Quote from "Nekrodrac" »

Now let's embrace the awesomeness of the bucket

Yes, lets. ^.^

Quote from "deathMars" »

This isn't a society with responsibilities. It's a "the more experience you have, the more fun you can have" thing.

Not really.. If a newcomer came along and started acting like a douchebag, I'm pretty sure it would be just as frowned upon as if a member who's been posting for a few years did the same thing. Just because you've been here a while it doesn't give you the 'right' to be a jackass.

I totally made this my profile picture.

For Gamecube:
Tales of Symphonia
Animal Crossing
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Mario Parties!

Animal Crossing is such a fun game.

Xbox:
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II
Star Wars: Jedi Knight series
Halo

The Star Wars games were all for PC as well. I think.. Same with Halo.

PS2:
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Champions of Norrath

Quote from "Nektu" »

*let's one rip, it shakes the stool, the glasses on the bar, flies are falling out of the air dead.

*walking half a mile away, heading for the tavern*

...What's that smell?

*sniff*

Holy motherfucking shit! AAWwWW!! AAAUGH! AAAHHH!

*collapses in the dirt, rain shower begins*

Quote from "Ivaron" »

1A:

Anakin/Vader

Sadly that's the only question I know the answer to right now :/

Correct, that is a little bit sad.

Quote from name="Pure Physics" »

Can you pretend I put Berserker in my last post as Brick's Class?

1C: I am totally making this up but lets guess that
green=initiate
blue=jedi knight
and yellow = jedi master

You could've answered that question again, you know.

And incorrect. Jedi Knight and Master are more ranks than classes. Initiate in the Star Wars universe would be Padawan, for Jedi's. They also don't correspond with the color of their sabers.

~~~~~~~~~~
Codeword: System
See post #1 for directions on the codeword.

Category 1: Star Wars (General)
A.) -
B.) When was the first Star Wars trilogy released?
C.) A Jedi's "class" in indicated by his or her lightsaber's color. Or at least the first one they acquire. What are the names of the classes that correspond with a green, blue and yellow lightsaber? (Time of the Old Republic)

Category 2: Chuck Norris (Facts trivia)
A.) If a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?
B.) -
C.) -

Category 3: Borderlands
A.) What's the name of your robot guide at the beginning of the game? (nickname)
B.) What are the four characters and their classes?
C.) -
_____________________________
carambolage - 38
Lestater - 31
Shatterer - 26
PhrozenDragon - 23
Ivaron - 18
ScyberDragon - 15
Pure Physics - 13
Junction3 - 12
Zhar - 10
Don_guillotine - 9
Party_Foul - 2
zhuge - 2
Nyalite - 1
Seth - 1

Quote from "skynight" »

Nobody forget that my birthday is April 19th. I will want a cookie, and a party, and will want to stay up......

Huh. My friend's birthday is on the same day.

ARE JOO MY FRIEND?!

You didn't know? We can go to war any time any president wants to. We just have to call it something other then war. Iraq/Afghanistan? Kinetic Action. North Korea/Vietnam? Police Action.

War? We never, ever have a war, we are a very, very peaceful nation. Now please enter the cell before this very, very kind and caring police officer kindly beats the shit out of you. Peacefully of course. And remember, he loves you, and we all love you. This is for your own good.

I've been wanting to write this up for a long time, but I wanted to first play through D2 again just so I can get a feel of all the faults that D2 had, even though I do think it is a great game. But D2 is no masterpiece. That's right, I'm as hard a Diablo Fan as anyone, and I said it. D2 has some serious issues, but luckily I don't think we'll see these blemishes in the new product.

Issue #1: The End Game
One of the most important aspects of any game of this type is the end game. This is where we get all our fat loot, play with our friends in Hell, and spend most of our time on our Main. For some, this is where the game actually begins. Unless you were seriously hardcore, the endgame for D2 suffered a lot and heres why:

Even if you had a great build (which we'll get to game mechanics later), if you didn't have the items to back up the build, your character was useless and you weren't viable in Hell, or it just wasn't fun to play because it was so hard (immunities and resistances were to blame here). The sorceress in particular can die in hell in one hit at lvl 90 with the right combination of hits from monsters. The solution to this? The removal of immunities will be awesome, but I also think the monsters will be better tweaked to not cause you to die in one hit, and I think it's that simple.

So when you finally, after months of playing, do get your epic armor-stat combo, you can finally run Baal (or pindleskin, diablo, or whomever) so many times your eyes bleed. But seriously, that's pretty much all you'll be doing because that's where all that fat loot is dropped (rather, that's where the highest chance of it dropping is). Now hopefully this won't be worthwhile to constantly run Diablo (or whomever the main villain is) over and over a million times. Hopefully in D3 we will be rewarded for exploring different areas of the game and throughout all the acts in Hell difficulty. Not much is known here, but there is potential to make item finding interesting by putting super rare drops in obscure places throughout Hell, and/or just to simply make boss drops not so big.

The level cap has been debated for a while now, and it won hands down. Sorry you hardcore fanbois, but the level cap of 60 is necessary if you want a game where your skills actually mean something. You can argue "it was so fun grinding to as close to level 99 as possible", but no, it wasn't fun. And it wasn't fun because there was nothing to gain but a status symbol. I'm sure the status symbol for D3 will be in other, better forms such as dyes, items, and gold. Also, there are other forms of grindy things you can do in D3 such as gems that will make up for habit.

Which brings us to another topic.

Issue #2: Gold and Economy
If all goes well, we'll have a real economy that uses gold as it's currency and not SOJs. A form of the Auction House (though by no means the same) will encourage that gold be used instead of some user-defined item. This is important. This makes items you pick up worthy of being sold. Now you don't have to get really lucky and find the one Monk on battlenet that has that one Axe you were looking for and wants that one Cestus you found (but this ONLY assumes those two items are of equal value :(. Now you can put it up for auction and use the gold you get to trade for the things you need. Problem solved.

Nobody knows what the future holds for D3's econ, but I can bet we'll have a nice battle.net-level UI to do trading outside of the game (this is only speculation though, don't get your hopes up).

Issue #3: Skills
Diablo 2 has major issues with skill variety. There's a reason why there are builds named after a certain skill: Meteorb Sorc, FireWall Sorc, Hammerdin, and I could go on. These builds are designed around one skill. That's because the game encourage this. Now, why is this a bad thing? Because it gets very boring mashing right-click over and over again until your hand hurts, and seeing the same frozen orb hit the same enemies over and over just gets boring after a few days. (love ya FO, but you get old)

D3 is designed to be a more tactical game where your decisions in combat influence the battle a lot, more like Zelda, as Jay Wilson continually describes. And, as such, you're encouraged to diversify your skills. This I think will be the biggest plus for D3. I hope to see some outrageously interesting builds come out of all the classes. To further diversify these skills, we have the Runestones, which will definitely bring a whole new era of awesome builds.

D3's UI changes also help to encourage skill diversity by the use of 1-4 as well as left and right click to apply your skills. F1 through F8 got tiresome quick. As with any game, UI is very important and effects the gameplay.

Issue #4: PvP Is Separate From PvE
Running along in D2 and getting ganked is no fun. While this doesn't happen much anymore, it was a big problem when there were more people on battle.net. Now we don't have to worry about this as the arena takes care of all our pvp needs. I think it will also encourage a new form entertainment on YouTube (yes, I'm looking at you, Force), which is GREAT. Whether you're into pvp or not, getting more people to play D3 is a good thing.

Issue #5: Story
Lead Content Designer Kevin Martens explained at BC 2010 that most of meat of the story will be told through what he describes as "Action Storytelling", where the story is supposed to unfold in front of you in-battle, instead of some dialog in the Rogue Encampment. Regardless of your view on this matter, whether you like good-ol' story telling or not, this will be an interesting take on the genre, of the like I don't think I've seen before, so we'll see.

We'll also be privy to bite-size stories throughout Sanctuary that will are supposed to immerse you into the world, and you can pick this up at your leisure. The reason this is so great is that it encourages two playing philosophies at once: 1. If you don't want to learn about the story, you don't have to read it, and continue hackin' and slashin'. 2. It encourages you to, if you want to, to go search for these little pockets of story within Sanctuary, providing tons of replay value.

Obviously we don't know how Diablo 3 will unfold in terms of story, but Blue has made it clear that after 20 years of relative peace, the Hells are breeding an army for war.

Issue #6: Melee Classes Were Far More Difficult to Play
As per snared04drummer's request, we'll delve into what I think to be a major design flaw of the D2. Melee classes had this really big problem in Hell and even in Nightmare. With the exception of a Hammerdin, the melee forms of the Paladin, Barb, Druid, and Assassin were not competent paradigms, especially in the later game. Yes you could build a Hammerdin, a Fireclaw Druid, or a Trap Assn, but we're talking about melee classes. A WW Barb is really risky, but I don't want to go into details. Basically, D3 will (hopefully) be rid of these problems. From the videos I've seen, all the melee classes look like they're on equal footing with all the other archetypes.

One of the sources of the problem here is Attack Rating (AR) which makes melee classes need LOTS of Dexterity, which is not really where they should be spending their points. A melee class should be spending points into their respective stat based on what they want to improve, not being forced to go Dex because of a bad mechanic. Thankfully in D3, this will be taken care of for us - the damage taken will be set for your character.

Conclusion
I could probably go on forever about the ways that D3 will be better, and by no means do I think D3 will be perfect, but so far the game looks infinitely better than it's predecessor, and that excludes graphical changes (though the ragdoll physics is super delicious in a Diablo game). This is still kindof a work in progress, so I'll update it as I see fit. In the meantime, if you guys want to chip in any more things you think will be better or worse about D3, please let us know in the comments.

Quote from Winged

I obviously speak for the majority of the Diablo community when I say, Getting a lvl 14 Gem should be very difficult, and reward the player for it. I feel at most, they should let the lvl 6 gems drop, but very rarely. As rare as prefect gems did in D2 would be about right.

You are dead wrong.

Let's say you can get 50 lvl 6 gems per hour of play. (which is ridiculous to be honest, the game would be more about picking items up and combining them then anything else) To go from a lvl 6 into 14, you would need 6561 gems. At 50/hour, it would take 131.22 hours of play to get a single gem.

Now let's go with what you want (you masochist you), "as rare as perfect gems did in D2". What was that then, about 5 perfect per hour of play, depending on what you were doing? You'd need 1312.2 hours just to get one gem. 54.675 days of playing straight (with no sleep, or anything BUT playing D3) for one gem. A full year of playing (again with no sleep, or anything else) would only yield 6.675 gems. Let's add some sleep and other-things time into that, shorten our play time down to 6 hours per day. 218.7 days for 1 gem. Basically, you'd be lucky if you got a gem after playing the game for a year, 6 hours a day.

That's just not realistic. People would probably kill themselves trying to get the damn thing... Seriously.

Good...good.

*rubs hands together*

Quote from Umpa65

Clearly none of you understand why a big MK fan would be upset at this because your just looking forward to a good movie and don't really care about the MK story.

I'm sorry, but are you using Mortal Kombat and story in the same sentence?

Thought I'd wrap up the chronology of events of Diablo in a simpler, easier to read way. Also see Elfen Lied's thread for more detailed descriptions of events. This is a work in progress. Please notify all incorrect content, or big events that I seem to have excluded.

ALL OF REALITY BURSTS INTO EXISTENCE. THE HIGH HEAVENS AND THE DEPTHS OF HELL ARE BORN WITH IT.

The Great Conflict

---

[/HR]The Great Conflict begins over anything of value. Angels and Demons fight endlessly, neither keeping gained ground for very long. The Angiris Council, led by Tyrael, Imperius, Inarius, Auriel, Itherael, and Malthael are the leaders of Heaven, while the Three Primes (Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal) are the leaders of Hell (for now).
Inarius, member of the Angiris Council, sees little point in their infinite war. Inarius gains the trust of many like-minded angels and demons and, together, defects from Heaven and Hell. He does three important things:

1. Creates Sanctuary, the world of men, as a paradise and refuge from the Great Conflict
2. Creates the Nephalem, the first humans
3. Creates the Worldstone, a huge purple stone

Instead of giving up on the war, Heaven and Hell alike turn to Sanctuary in a struggle for the souls of men in an effort to turn the tide of the now called Sin War. The events of The Sin War Trilogy (books) take place. Suffice to say, Inarius has severely pissed off both Heaven and Hell, and both want to see him pay heavily for his crimes.

The Dark Exile

---

[/HR]Andariel, Duriel, Belial, and Azmodan are lesser evils, small fries compared to the Three Primes. However, with the ascension of man, they are presumably duped by the Three into believing that Diablo and his brothers are going to give up the fight against Heaven. With this in mind, they plot against the Three and exile them into Sanctuary. During the events of Diablo 2, Izual concedes that the Three Primes masterminded their own exile.

The Horadrim

---

[/HR]Jered Cain, Tal Rasha, and Deckard Cain were the most notable members of the Horadrim, an elite group of Magi founded by the Archangel Tyrael. Tasked with hunting and sealing the Prime Evils, they used magic to seek and imprison the Three inside Soulstones, small fragments of the Worldstone, which were given to them by Tyrael himself. They found and captured each evil and hid their stones accordingly:

• Baal’s Soulstone was imprisoned inside a huge tomb constructed with a single purpose: keep him in and others out. Tal Rasha, knowing that the final shard of Baal's broken Soulstone was not great enough to contain the Prime Evil, chose to use his own body as a prison for the Prime. Lodging it into his chest and binding himself to a pillar, Tal Rasha remained in the tomb for centuries, containing the Evil within.
• Mephisto’s Soulstone was sealed inside a temple in Kurast. The Zakarum monks were tasked with its protection (ultimately, however, the Soulstone corrupted the monks and Mephisto took a host).
• Diablo’s Soulstone was hidden beneath a deserted Cathedral.

And so the events of Tristram and Diablo 1 unfold…

Tristram and the Cathedral

---

[/HR]King Leoric was King of Khanduras. He made Tristram its capital, and his throne several levels beneath the town’s cathedral that the Horadrim had built to conceal Diablo’s Soulstone. One of Leoric’s most trusted advisors, Archbishop Lazarus, was drawn to Diablo’s Soulstone and was corrupted by it soon after shattering it. Diablo took this opportunity to seize the King’s son as his host, and grew to full power far beneath the Cathedral.

A warrior appeared in Tristram (playable Warrior in Diablo 1). With the help of Deckard Cain, he sought Diablo and ultimately vanquished him. Thought able to contend with its evil, the Warrior forced Diablo’s Soulstone into his own forehead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGRGxt2-7rc

The events of Diablo 2 begin many months later…

Reunion of the Three

---

[/HR]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubD5wkCG07g

The hero who vanquished Diablo wandered Sanctuary in search of answers to the nightmares haunting his dreams. He found none, and though his spirit and will were stronger than most of Sanctuary’s most brave, Diablo took root in the hero’s soul. He wandered East; drawn blindly to Diablo’s brothers.

The events of Diablo 2 unfold here. Adventurers hear rumors of a great evil stirring in a rogue encampment near Tristram. Our heroes, a group of characters playable in Diablo 2, seek out this evil, rescue Deckard Cain and slay the Lesser Evil Andariel, who blocked passage to Lut Gholein. Passage now granted, our heroes and Cain traveled to the East.

Lut Gholein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkJRxBlZi70&NR=1

Here among the raging deserts, our heroes sought a powerful evil locked within a secret tomb. Using the Horadric Cube, a device crafted by the Horadrim Magi, and with the help of Deckard Cain, the band of heroes was able to craft a key into the tomb’s most inner sanctum. Forced to traverse the Arcane Sanctuary, a mystical structure crafted by Horazon, a long dead (or believed to be dead) Magi, our heroes ultimately found a portal to Tal Rasha’s tomb. In it they found a keyhole for the crafted key, and the door it unlocked led to Duriel, a Lesser Evil. The demon was slain: but it was too late.

A companion of the Wandering Hero, Marius, had made a fatal error in ignorance of the situation. Finding himself face to face with Tal Rasha (Baal’s spiritual prison) while his companion was locked in combat with the Archangel Tyrael, Marius pulled the Soulstone from Tal Rasha’s chest and unlocked the evil contained within.

Tyrael tasked Marius with taking the Soulstone to the Hellforge in order to destroy it. Baal could not manifest his power in Sanctuary without the stone, and its destruction would spell Baal’s end in the mortal realm. Marius had little choice but to obey Tyrael’s orders, and would appear again in Kurast later.

Marius escaped the tomb while Tyrael contended with Baal's new form.

Kurast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgwRT5dLt8

The heroes now found themselves among the Zakarum in Kurast, an ancient order of light. But what they found in that city was beyond the reaches of light. Corrupted by Mephisto’s presence, the Zakarum became the Lord of Hatred’s agents. Mephisto entrusted six Zakarum priests with six shards of his Soulstone to protect him, while he kept the seventh and final shard for himself.

Marius caught up with the wandering hero and spied a demonic meeting. Baal (using Tal Rasha’s form) and Mephisto managed to catalyze the wanderer’s transformation into Diablo himself, and opened a portal into Hell for Diablo to take. Marius does not find the courage to follow, and instead retreats somewhere to an asylum, where he will spend his final years.

The heroes find their way inside Mephisto’s lair and vanquish the demon’s physical presence long after Diablo had made his trip into Hell and Baal had disappeared to somewhere in Sanctuary. The heroes took Mephisto’s Soulstone and entered into the same portal Diablo had taken, leading to the events in the Pandemonium Fortress.

Pandemonium Fortress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8fOTlMt1Q&NR=1

The Pandemonium Fortress is a sort of bastion of Heaven on the steppes of Hell. It is here the heroes meet Tyrael again since following the Archangel's instructions in Tal Rasha’s Tomb. Tyrael instructs them that he cannot help them on his journey, but that he must destroy Mephisto’s Soulstone before contending with Diablo himself. Traversing Hell and the River of Flame, the band of champions defeats Hephasto and destroys the Soulstone at the Hellforge, the most inner sanctum of Hell.

The heroes also find and defeat Izual, once a powerful angel of Heaven that was overcome in combat and his spirit corrupted or enslaved by the Three. Now an agent of Hell, Izual ceded important information about the Angiris Council to the Prime Evils. Before falling, the angel’s assault on Hellforge presumably stopped the creation of a powerful demonic sword known as Shadowfang, saving countless.

This sword is a unique two handed sword in Diablo 2, but its power is largely diminished. This is either a gameplay balance or a reference to its incompletedness.

Finally, the heroes unlock and defeat Diablo, the Lord of Terror. His Soulstone is taken to the Hellforge and shattered. Upon returning to the Pandemonium Fortress, Tyrael informs the champions that a greater evil lurks in Harrogath, homeland of the Barbarian nation, the Nephalem, Mount Arreat, and the Worldstone.

Baal’s Return
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46YHIIu9D8Q

Baal still does not have his own Soulstone with him, and he must find it if he is to damn all of Sanctuary. Eventually, Baal finds Marius, who had pulled the Soulstone from his captor’s chest in Tal Rasha’s tomb. Baal impersonates Tyrael and asks that Marius give him the Soulstone. Marius agrees and hands him the stone, but moments later realizes his grave mistake. Baal now has his full power returned to him and launches an assault on Harrogath, the last bastion before Mount Arreat.

The Lord of Destruction

---

[/HR]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STz_8UiGHT4

Baal unleashes all available forces on Harrogath. His deceptions trick an Elder of Harrogath, Nihlathak, into giving him the Key of the Ancients in return for sparing Harrogath. Baal, being the Lord of Destruction, refuses to uphold his end of the bargain and continues the assault. Additionally, his possession of the Key of the Ancients allows him to bypass the Nephalem Ancients guarding the entrance to the Worldstone Keep, a fortress within the mountain of Arreat, where the Worldstone resides.

The heroes follow Baal quite shortly behind his tracks, slowed by Baal’s minions. They confront and defeat the Nephalem warriors, a feat even Baal feared he could not do. The heroes venture deep inside the Keep and, after defeating the Lord of Destruction's litany of elite minions, chases Baal into the Worldstone Chamber itself. Baal’s defeat would come too late and at too great a cost: Baal’s corruption of the Worldstone was too far in progress to be reversed. Tyrael appears and grants the champions safe passage back to Harrogath. Their quest is finished… for now.

Tyrael is now forced to contend with the predicament of the corrupted Worldstone. Without any other option to save humanity, he hurls his flaming sword into the Worldstone and shatters it into an infinite number of pieces, its destruction appearing as if Tyrael had thrown a boulder into a lake of water but the splashes and ripples were manifested as shards of crystal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYVUcMw9JY

Diablo 2 concludes with this final act, and Diablo 3 will pick up twenty years later. No one knows what the destruction of the Worldstone will mean for Sanctuary. No one knows what will become of Tyrael. Belial and Azmodan do play critical roles in the story’s plot, however, and it can be assumed that Diablo has somehow made it back to Sanctuary.

It is also known that the only returning hero from Diablo 2 is the Barbarian, who will play a crucial role in Diablo 3's events.

Screwtape was in his study deep in thought when a knock came at the door. "Come in," he replied. Opening the door was So'kar his second in command. Clad in his usual black and red granite armour which seemed to seethe with his breathing, coarsing with the burning lava held within it. And slung across his back, one of his many trophies, a great fire sword which he had conquered a huge old demon in possesion of it. He had his masters respect and loyalty to his master in return.

So'kar wasted no time in stating his business. "My Lord, my apologies for intruding. I do not know if you are aware that there has been much talk among the common rabble that a new power has emerged from the City of the Damned. He calls himself Namphiel. They say he is gathering an army."


"What sort of army?" Screwtape asked. For he himself had been relatively unnaware of a gathering of any kind. Though, he thought, these new lords don't last long. Hungry for power and always a clever lieutenant waiting for just the right time to strike and take up his master's throne. Did these new lords ever learn that to rule in hell you must rule with fear and without question. No second chances, no forgiveness, nothing.

"I dug a little deeper," So'kar reflected. "and learned that it's a first wave intended to infiltrate Sanctuary with sleeper demons, which would explain why some of your acquaintances have been called to him as well, my lord. And a few old acquaintances at that. Some say he will be the next great Dark Lord, to rule over Heaven and Hell on top of the human world" Screwtape's head came up at that and So'kar hurriedly added, "but it is only just talk my lord."

"So he is going to Sanctuary is he?" Screwtape thought aloud. And with the mention of infiltration he was surprised that he himself had not been called before the others. No matter, if this squabble of ragtags were going to Sanctuary then they had best be about it, even without him. And good luck to them without Heaven sticking their angelic noses in as well. He was not proud. Was he? He supposed he must be jealous. The opportunity to be on Sanctuary once again would be an enjoyment, a sort of holiday. He would go. He would! "You may take your leave now So'kar, well done, I... I have some business to attend to." His lieutenant bowed and left his study, closing the door leading to the outer processions of The Shroud main hall behind him.

Screwtape sat back in his large throne-like chair slightly puzzled. He let out a sigh and got back to the immediate work on his desk, so many papers to go through. Why did he have to bother with papers? Frustrated he yelled "This is hell! What do I need papers for? And! Ah!" He laughed at his gestured fist, he would find out more about this rabble rousing and their new lord later. He reminded himself of the vital papers infront of him. He tried to focus his attention once more to the situation at hand. 'But why now?' he thought, as his mind momentarily slipped away. The news had slightly disturbed him. Everything was running smooth and according to his plans. He had finally gotten hold of the ancient documents of which he had searched for what seemed like ages for. He had only scratched the surface of what power and what secrets they could reveal.

He shook his head. 'Enough with these concerns, now for some of that human tea I have', he thought. He had acquired a taste for it after years of work on Sanctuary and he had found it helped aid his concentration. He tried to get up out of his seat and something tugged at him. "Ah so they want me after all," he said aloud. He grinned and all of a sudden he vanished completely leaving the study almost as it had been. A select few ancient scrolls that only Screwtape himself had seen had apparently managed to travel with him.

He appeared, standing on a runed circle surrounded by red and black tiles in a giant hall. The high walls arched above, supported by jagged black spires of crystal. Imps skittered across the floors, carrying all sorts of tools, stone tablets, and even weapons in and out of doorways. Some of the creatures carried armfulls of old scrolls, dropping a few and picking them back up. Screwtape would have done anything to have a look at them. The place was a bustle of activity, it looked as if they were indeed preparing for war. The rumor appeared correct.

"Another has arrived, my lord." said an unfamiliar voice. Screwtape looked to its source to see a rather odd looking figure, standing nearly 6 feet tall with spider like legs. It clicked across the stone floor, picking up a writing tablet with its' clawed hands, and began scribbling down notes on its surface. It looked like a list from where he stood.

He looked up ahead to observe a giant demon around 9 feet tall, who sat atop a massive throne of obsidian. He glanced down at Screwtape through old yellow eyes, before raising a clawed finger to his temple in contemplation, as if considering what to eat for what the humans called 'breakfast'.

Screwtape knew that the demon must have got hold of one of the summoning stones. He wondered what lost chasm he found it in or who he had killed for it?. He wouldn't mind having one himself to use for summoning his brethren sworn to The Shroud.

The figure on the the throne abrubtly leaned forward and aided by the firelight Screwtape recognized the face and spoke before the demon could, "Namphiel is it? That's not the name I remember you last having. And no, no your reputation was quite different in those days wasn't it? But you appear to be doing better since we last met. State your purpose, why have you summoned me here?"

Namphiel smiled, if you could call it a smile. "Greetings to you Screwtape. It has been a while hasn't it? But the old ways aside, I have a job for you."

The sounds of chains echoed through the dimly lit corridor. Flickering light entered through the tall double wooden doors, followed with laughter.

"Let's go back to my room," a man's voice said through the doorway.

"Alright, lead the way, sweetie," a females voice replied.

The couple walked through the doorway and down the hall. The man, a simple mortal lead an obvious succubus to his room. The fire on Angriel's head was barely lit, but grew more intense as they approached the mortal's chambers. He opened the doors and removed his jacket throwing it onto a nearby chair. He loosened the tie around his neck and sat down on the chest at the foot of his bed. Angriel quickly surveyed the room before closing the door quietly behind her. The mortal motioned for her to come toward him and she did.

"Now where were we?" she spoke softly to him, entrancing him more.

"Right about here," he replied taking his shirt off and starting to unbuckle his pants.

Angriel's hair exploded into a pillar of fire as she drew her demonsteel sabre. She shoved it into the man's chest and let his body fall limp against hers. She grabbed his head, holding it against her breasts as she gave the blade a sharp, gruesome twist. Moans of pleasure whispered from her mouth while she ripped her sword from his chest. She licked the blood from her blade and let his body fall onto the bed. She sheathed her blade and bent over leaving a bloody kiss upon his cheek.

"I'm sure you would have been good too," she spoke to him, "But I have been hungering for so long, I could not-" she was cut off. A tugging sensastion pulled her back away from his corpse and through deminsions.

She appeared in the center of a grand hall, surrounded by a few other demons. Sitting at the front on his masterfully crafted throne was Namphiel.

"What?!" she shrieked looking around the hall, "How can you do this to me, Namphiel?! Can I not relish in the slaughter of my mortal lovers?!"

Black. As far as the immortal eye can see is only the ink like darkness, save for one light source. The jagged Chasm of Avarice rips across the charcoal landscape and plunges deep into the onyx colored terrain. Black smoke billows up from the great chasm, obscuring some of the light so that only flickers of orange and yellow creep through.

The one place where he wouldn't be searched for. This was his domain.

Something small skitters. A flash of red splits the darkness. Fangs. Talons. Tail. The tiny creature runs as fast as it can. It skids suddenly to a halt, black sand scrapes, pebbles bounce. The small red scaled head flicks from side to side, beady yellow eyes darting back and forth. Heavy panicked breaths exhale from a hole in its face, edged with needle like bones jutting from the flesh.

Smoke, darker than the surrounding landscape, begins to trickle from a crack in the slate-like earth. It works its way upwards glancing off the underbelly of the red demon. His eyes flare wide. Panic sets in. He runs. But he never had a chance to escape evil of this magnitude. The trickle of sooty smoke follows every footstep of the little red demon, until it suddenly vanishes.

A massive billowing cloud of smoke explodes from the obsidian ground just in front of the red demon. Pointed black stone flies in all directions. The red demon slides to a stop. Knees shaking.

Through the shadow and smoke two faint yellow specs of light begin to emerge. Eyes. Then two thick, black, scaled wings rip through the smoke as the beast of darkness lunges forth. A clawed onyx colored hand grabs the throat of the little red creature, the demonic fingers wrapping all the way around the neck.

The shadow demon's jaws part to reveal a burning furnace of horror and trepidation. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Boomed the monstrous creature. "WHO SENT YOU?!" Jets of fire flicking from his eyes and mouth inches from the face of the red imp.

For the red devilkin, the face of the shadow demon was much more terrifying. The shadow demon's eyes bore straight into the soul of the imp and saw his worst fears and brought them to the front of the devilkin's mind. Glimpses of unimaginable deaths at the hands of this black archfiend formed in every minute plume of smoke that stretched from his body. Flames erupted from the back of the black monstrosity. If the red imp could cry, he would have.

"I...I...I was just lost I...I...swear!" The terrified imp stammered.

The shadow demon's voice crackled with power as he spoke again. "I AM THE PRINCE OF DREAD!! KNOW THAT AND FLEE FROM THIS PLACE FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!!" He roared, as he flung the red imp flying through the air.

The devilkin smacked on the hard obsidian ground. Bones cracked, and he grimaced. But much worse would happen to him if he stayed. The little imp limped off as quickly as his feeble body could take him.

The Prince of Dread, Zethrael let his flames die down and his smoke dissipate. The Prince relaxed for a split second when he felt a tug at the edge of his mind.

"NO!" The Prince's flames exploded forth from his body, burning a fierce blue. His wings snapped outwards. Zethrael desperately dug his claws into the shale and slate, but it was a futile attempt to prevent the inevitable.

The world shifted to nothingness and Zethrael clawed at emptiness for a moment, and realized that this summoning was different than his last. A different Demon Lord was calling on him. With this knowledge, the Prince stood a little taller, pulled his wings in a bit, and let his fire extinguish itself.

His world shifted again, and Zethrael found solid footing in a magnificent hall. Before him were several demons standing on elaborately runed circles much like the one he currently stood on. He knew none of the demons here save one. The demon Lord Namphiel perched on his obsidian throne. This was a demon Lord, but he was no Lord of Terror. Nothing Namphiel could do would instill the fear like Zethrael had experienced at the hands of Lord Diablo. Or so he thought.

"Why have I been summoned?" Zethrael asked boldly.